Built To Spill

Built To Spill

You In Reverse

[4/5] In 2002, when Built To Spill singer/guitarist/founder Doug Martsch released his pretty-much-perfect slide-blues solo album, Now You Know, he unwittingly set the bar so fucking high for BTS’ follow-up to 2001’s Ancient Melodies Of The Future that a less-inventive musician might’ve just quit to avoid risking the abject failure of what could only be a sub-par release. But true explorers like Martsch don’t think that way, especially after 13 years in the game; and, after a five-year wait, Built To Spill have delivered a gorgeous set of spectral, ambitious and carefully crafted songs with You In Reverse. Splitting the difference, as usual, between Elliott Smith and Neil Young, Martsch’s voice snakes around unexpected cadences (“Mess With Time”) and drifts over elegant guitar lines (“Traces,” “Wherever You Go”) with an ease of motion that borders on ownership and a sense of confidence that comes from having a pretty-much-perfect career.
(WARNER BROS.) J. Bennett

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